Friday 11 November, 2016 : Valdivia – Puerto Varas

After a comfortable night in Valdivia we set off on Day 2, on schedule, and completed an itinerary according to plan, our aim being to drive slowly south, ending up in either Puerto Montt or Puerto Varas. We passed through beautiful Chilean countryside, lush green in the most part but with large stretches also in various stages of cultivation (see photo below).

Curiously formed ridges and furrows at the roadside

Parts of the road were under repair and caused minor delays, but we were in no hurry. On the whole the roads were in good repair, better than many in Argentina, and the repair work is presumably the why.

Roadworks encountered around Osorno in a vain attempt to find a way through to the Pacific coast.

We flirted with the idea of taking a peek at the Pacific Ocean, and came off the motorway (Route 5) at Osorno trying to find the U-40. In the end we completed a big circle and ended up where we started, so that was a bit of a failure, but we did see some lovely countryside and buildings so all was not lost. We also spent a fair bit of time tailgating timber trucks that were travelling at a snail’s pace, but again we were in no hurry.

Wood is big business in southern Chile, and we saw many trucks carrying heavy loads.

Fields of grain and clear blue skies …

Caroline was fascinated by the wooden buildings and took countless photos of them – an example below, …

Wood is almost universally used for construction, and there is no shortage of it

… and she was also fascinated by the huge variety of sturdily constructed bus shelters.

Just one of the huge number of bus shelters that lined every road we took

We finally ended up in a town that was marked as a largish community on the map but didn’t actually exist when we got there. Most perplexing, but fortunately we stumbled on a carabinero who was able to set us back on our way. By this time we had to abandon our attempts at reaching the Pacific if we wanted to get to our day’s destination by nightfall so we made our way back to the motorway and continued south.

Martin having words with a kindly Chilean carabinero.

The ubiquitous shield of the Carabineros.

The shield of the carabineros had particular resonance for Martin, for whom it had meant something very different back in 1975. See here for the story.

The rolling Chilean road

We resumed our journey south, leaving the motorway again at Frutillar where we were mesmerised by the gorgeous Osorno volcano.

Osorno volcano seen across lake Llanquique

Another view of Osorno volcano, showing how it dominates the town of Frutillar

We drove along the side of lake Llanquique for a while and then had to rejoin the motorway to get to Puerto Varas. Martin had wanted to drop by to see a friend, Rafaelle, who lives there and runs BirdsChile, organisers of next year’s South American Bird Fair. Sadly Rafaelle was in Buenos Aires but Tere kindly received us and gave us some useful pointers.

Teresa Montes of BirdsChile

We ended up in a small hotel just round the corner from BirdsChile, a little exhausted but happy with a good day’s travelling. Just time for a great evening meal of fish and shellfish, service a little slow, followed by a good night’s sleep

Puerto Varas, street scene, taken from our hotel as we settled in.